Harry Rintoul (December 9, 1956 - January 14, 2002) was a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
playwright and theatre director. He was best known for his 1990 play ''Brave Hearts'', which was noted as one of the first significant
gay
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
-themed plays in Canadian theatre history to be written by a heterosexual writer, and one of the first ever to address gay themes in a rural setting outside of the traditional gay urban meccas of
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
,
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
or
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
.
Early life
Born in
Canmore, Alberta
Canmore is a town in Alberta, Canada, located approximately west of Calgary near the southeast boundary of Banff National Park. It is located in the Bow Valley within Alberta's Rocky Mountains. The town shares a border with Kananaskis Countr ...
, Rintoul moved to
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...
,
Manitoba
Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...
in childhood. As a young adult he moved to
Regina,
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...
for a time, during which he began writing ''Brave Hearts'', but then moved back to Winnipeg and founded
Theatre Projects Manitoba Theatre Projects Manitoba (TPM) is a professional theatre company based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was founded in 1990 by playwright Harry Rintoul in response to the perceived need for a strong local professional company to provide opportunities fo ...
.
Career
The first production of ''Brave Hearts'' was staged by
Buddies in Bad Times
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is a Canadian professional theatre company. Based in Toronto, Ontario and founded in 1978 by Matt Walsh, Jerry Ciccoritti, and Sky Gilbert, ''Buddies in Bad Times'' is dedicated to "the promotion of queer theatrical e ...
in Toronto, where it was a
Dora Mavor Moore Award nominee for Outstanding New Play, Small Theatre Division in 1991. In 1992 ''Brave Hearts'' was included in ''Making Out'', the first significant anthology of gay-themed Canadian plays, alongside works by
,
Sky Gilbert
Schuyler Lee (Sky) Gilbert Jr. (born December 20, 1952) is a Canadian writer, actor, academic and drag performer. Born in Norwich, Connecticut, he studied theatre at York University in Toronto, Ontario, and at the University of Toronto
Th ...
,
Daniel MacIvor
Daniel MacIvor (born July 23, 1962) is a Canadian actor, playwright, theatre director, and film director. He is probably best known for his acting roles in independent films and the sitcom ''Twitch City''.
Personal
MacIvor was born in Sydney, Nov ...
,
Colin Thomas
Colin Thomas is a Canadian writer from Vancouver, British Columbia. He is known as a longtime theatre critic for ''The Georgia Straight'', an alt-weekly, serving 30 years until 2016.
In addition, Thomas has written original plays for young audienc ...
and
Ken Garnhum; in 2006, it appeared in the anthology ''Perfectly Abnormal: Seven Gay Plays'', alongside plays by
Greg Kearney
Greg Kearney is a Canadian writer. He was a humour columnist for '' Xtra!'' from 1999 to 2005, and published his debut short story collection ''Mommy Daddy Baby'' in 2004.
Born in Kenora, Ontario,[Shawn Postoff Shawn may refer to:
*Shawn (given name)
*Shawn (surname)
See also
* Sean
* Shaun Shaun is an anglicized spelling of the Irish name Seán. Alternative spellings include Shawn, Sean and Shawne.
Notable persons with the given name include:
Peop ...]
,
Christian Lloyd,
,
Ken Brand
Ken Brand is a Canadian playwright from Winnipeg, Manitoba.Glenn Sumi, "Gay theatre scores big with its target audience: Canada's homosexual community is large, rich and self-aware -- and playwrights are cashing in on it. Who cares if the critics d ...
and
Michael Achtman
Michael may refer to:
People
* Michael (given name), a given name
* Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael
Given name "Michael"
* Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...
.
Rintoul's other plays included ''Life and Times'', ''Refugees'', ''Montana'', ''Jack of Hearts'', ''Between Then and Now'', ''The Convergence of Luke'' and ''Lake Nowhere''.
Harry S. Rintoul Memorial Award
Following his death in 2002, the Manitoba Association of Playwrights established an annual Harry S. Rintoul Memorial Award, presented to the year's best play by a Manitoba writer at the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival.
[The Harry S. Rintoul Memorial Award, Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival. http://www.winnipegfringe.com/PerformerArea/The-Harry-Rintoul-Award.aspx]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rintoul, Harry
1956 births
2002 deaths
20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights
Canadian male dramatists and playwrights
Canadian theatre directors
Writers from Winnipeg
20th-century Canadian male writers